


A Tepid Bath

by Chibitami



Series: Requested Scenario Collection [25]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Implied Sexual Content, One Shot, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-14
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:07:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23147458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibitami/pseuds/Chibitami
Summary: 1st place prize from my 500+ followers giveaway on Tumblr for @vigilentballofpassion:"I'd like to request my promt be about Marco whose s/o can be a bit depressed already and had a pretty crappy iffy week, is stressed about upcoming missions and had a bad day and is sort of having a mental break down in the bath. Hurt/comfort. Fluff. Maybe a little smut. Whatever you thinks works. Thank you."
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco/Reader
Series: Requested Scenario Collection [25]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577755
Comments: 1
Kudos: 40





	A Tepid Bath

Marco could tell something was "off" about ____. For the past few days, she'd been staring off more often, being more silent than usual, and had wanted to spend more time alone instead of interacting with anyone else on the Moby Dick. He'd assumed that she was nervous about the upcoming missions to try and drive out Blackbeard's crew out of some of Whitebeard's old territory; between that and the death of Pops, it's no surprise that she, like most of the crew, was struggling a bit emotionally. Still, Marco felt a strong urge to keep a watchful eye on her. She wasn't weak by any means, but even the strongest pirates have a breaking point. And Marco wanted to help her however he could, but didn't want to invade her privacy or seem like he was coddling or smothering her. 

When he heard a familiar voice sniffling and quietly crying from his cabinet's bathroom, he froze and immediately recognized ____'s voice. His hand rested on the doorknob, but in the end he decided to gently knock on the door. "____? Can I come in?" 

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the door. "I...Y-yeah," ____ replied thickly. "Go ahead."

Marco slowly opened the door and stepped inside. ____ was in the bath, with her knees to her chest and hiding most of her face with her crossed arms. Marco slowly walked up to her and smiled as he dipped his fingers into the bath water. "Water's barely warm," he remarked gently. "You've been in here for a while, huh?"

____'s voice was slightly muffled by her arms in front of her face. "Yeah," she replied quietly, her voice still thick as if she had been crying earlier. 

Marco gently placed a hand on her head before trailing his fingers to tuck a wet strand of hair behind her ear. "Is there anything I can do?" His voice was soft and laced with concern. "Whatever is bothering you, you don't have to go through it alone, you know."

____ leaned into his open hand and bit her lip to keep from crying. "I don't want to be a burden," she said hollowly. "Everyone else on the crew is still dealing with what happened to Pops...I don't want to give them something else to worry about, especially something so…" She sniffled and sighed. "So small."

Marco frowned and kneeled down as he leaned over the tub's rim to continue consoling her. "You wouldn't be a burden," he insisted gently. "You're  _ family  _ to everyone on the crew!" His cheeks turned slightly pink and he smirked. "Well, you're a bit more than that to _ me _ , heh. But...you know what I mean."

____ smiled back at him and rolled her eyes. "True," she replied with a slight bit of humor to her voice. "I wouldn't let anyone else walk in on me in the bath, regardless of whether or not I was in the middle of a mental...ugh…" She waved one of her hands around. " _ Thing _ ." ____ rubbed at her reddened eyes and looked back up at Marco with a small sigh. "I'm just so stressed and worried about everything now,  _ all  _ the time. I try to go to sleep, and think 'Oh, things will be better tomorrow', but even if it  _ is  _ better I still feel terrified and awful and I just…" Her breaths increased and Marco rubbed the back of her shoulder with his thumb. "I don't know what to do."

Marco leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "If it'll help, would you want to take a break from the mission coming up?"

____ bristled. "I don't want to let everyone down," she protested. "I can't back out just because I'm not feeling like myself."

"You won't be letting anyone down," Marco reassured. "Resting for a few days might do you some good. It'll give you some time to focus on yourself." He smiled at her. "And if you want, since I don't have any major missions coming up, I can spend more time with you too. We can make a little vacation out of it!"

____ raised an eyebrow. "A vacation?" 

Marco nodded. "Yep," he replied. He started to rub her shoulders and heard her sigh softly as she closed her eyes. "We can hang out on the ship, cook our favorite meals together, and enjoy our  _ alone time _ in the evenings without worrying about being called away or interrupted." 

____ smirked and tilted her head back to look up at Marco. "Alone time, eh? That sounds...nice," she replied. Her smirk widened a bit as she took one hand out of the water to play with one of his fingers. "What did you have in mind? Playing poker--ooh, or Scrabble?"

Marco grinned at her and kissed her forehead. "Only if it's 'strip poker' or 'naked Scrabble'," he teased, running his fingers up and down ____'s neck and collarbone to tickle her. She snorted and giggled, retaliating by splashing him with a bit of water. Marco dramatically looked down at his damp shirt. "Oh nooo," he said in a painfully fake tone of annoyance. "Well...if I'm already wet, I might as well join you, right?"

As he stripped off his clothes, ____ crossed her arms. "You sure? I've been in here a long time," she reminded him. "The water's going to get cold soon." 

Marco carefully stepped inside and cuddled up next to her while his hands wandered under the water. He left a small trail of kisses on her jawline and nuzzled her neck. "Guess we'll have to find another way to get warm…"


End file.
